Retired Wellesley cop, pit bull are best of friends

Frank Urbani Sr. hasn’t let retirement slow him down. But you might think he's gone to the dogs. The 68-year-old retired Wellesley police officer is keeping busy as he gives back to the community he served for 31 years. One of his favorite pastimes is caring for his pit bull, Button, whom Urb...

The 68-year-old retired Wellesley police officer is keeping busy as he gives back to the community he served for 31 years.

The Framingham resident officially retired in 2000 but accepted road details at construction and utility repairs sites, and special event assignments, until 2009, as his 65th birthday loomed. "I always say I was 40 years in the business," Urbani said in a telephone interview.

One of his favorite pastimes is caring for his pit bull, Button, whom Urbani adopted after losing his beloved dog of 15 years, Stanley, who died in 2007.

"I was just a mess. I had to grieve for awhile," Urbani said.

In 2009, Urbani saw a news report about a pit bull named Button who was available for adoption. The dog had been left starving in a crate in a Mattapan apartment. She was so skinny officers who found her named her Chickadee. Urbani wanted a pit bull, so the timing was perfect.

"I thought it was time for another dog. The very next day I went to the animal rescue and Button was there." After being discovered, Button had a brief stay with another family, who gave her the name she has today from the movie "Benjamin Button." But that situation didn’t work out because she didn’t get along with the family’s other dog.

Urbani still remembers Button’s condition: "I wish you could see how she looked then and how she looks now. She was skin and bones. I always say to her ‘you got it made.’ "

The 5-year-old Button "has a happy disposition," Urbani said.

Urbani took her to obedience school, though that didn't break her of the habit of jumping on people. At first Button was kept in her crate when Urbani’s grandchildren came to visit "because she would have knocked them over. She’s strong."

He says Button now gets along fine with his six grandchildren, despite her sometimes rambunctious ways. "She’s not aggressive at all. Just friendly, very friendly. She’ll lick you to death," he said.

One resident whose dogs enjoyed Urbani for years is Beth Hinchliffe, a former editor of the Wellesley Townsman who lives near the Katharine Lee Bates Elementary School, her alma mater.

Hinchliffe says she takes her cocker spaniels, Cricket, 4, and her son Clover, 1½, to see their favorite policeman every day, knowing he'll give them treats.

"He just buys (biscuits) and fills his pockets with them so he always has them to give out," Hinchliffe said.

She remembers getting to know Urbani when her basset hound, Duchess, kept her company at the newspaper office and on errands in town. "He’d stop his traffic direction to come over and crouch down and see Duchess and give her biscuits," Hinchliffe said.

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Urbani still has ties to the Wellesley Police, as a crossing guard.

Urbani is stationed at Westwood and Elmwood roads and at Rte. 9 and Kingsbury Street, helping students crossing outside the Bates school, the John D. Hardy Elementary School and the middle school. Urbani also drives two boys with autism from their homes in Dover to the New England Center for Children in Southborough.

He keeps traffic flowing and schoolchildren safe. "The people really know what I mean when I wave to them to come," he said.

Urbani, who is known as "the conductor" for the flamboyant way he carries out crossing guard duties, was twice invited to conduct the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra, once in 1996 and again in 1997. "I started with ‘Waltz of the Flowers.’ I knew it by heart," he recalled.

Urbani’s style has earned him kudos from motorists and others who have shown their appreciation with Christmas gifts and even tickets to a Boston Pops concert, back in the 1990s. It was then Urbani met Pops conductor Keith Lockhart, a moment he calls "one of my all-time dreams."

In return for the gifts - including gift certificates, candy and cheese – Urbani says he enjoys sending thank-you notes as well as retirement cards to former colleagues. The colorful crossing guard, whose son, Frank Urbani Jr., is a Wellesley College campus police officer, is relishing retirement because it allows him to be home with his wife, Vivienne, who has multiple sclerosis.

"My wife needs me. I can’t all of a sudden be ordered to work," he said.

His police colleagues say they miss Urbani and remember him as a dedicated team member.

"He’s a very warm and welcoming person," said Lt. Marie Cleary, a department spokeswoman. "He loved his job, was always happy to be here. He does have a very friendly demeanor and he’s just someone who’s always very positive about life. ... He does have a very lively way of conducting traffic and directing traffic."

Officer Eric Rosenberg, who supervises the crossing guards, said Urbani is a top-notch employee.

"He’s very enthusiastic and very friendly to all the kids he crosses. ... He’s a very dependable crossing guard," Rosenberg said. "He’s dedicated to making sure that they’re safe when they’re out there."

And when the busy crossing guard can carve out free time, Urbani says, "In between, I kinda have coffee with my wife."